<p>socal, capitol one credit card is great because it doesn’t charge an international transaction free or conversion fee. most other visas and amex will charge as high as 3%. also the reward programs for capitol one is quite good. you can use the card for purchasing and withdrawing from atm, but check on the atm works with card. </p>
<p>if you use a preloaded visa you will incur the conversion fees.</p>
<p>^^also, check your other credit cards for that benefit; I know that many of ours started that this past year (Chase Marriott, Amex, etc)</p>
<p>Linymom…what about Purdue? Top 10 engineering school, but not quite as difficult to get into. May be too midwest for you.</p>
<p>umich: I love the midwest, not an obstacle for me (I went to college in Chicago), but I checked out Purdue and it just didn’t fit the bill as far as Jewish students go… and if I remember correctly, it’s pretty big also…</p>
<p>RPI is on the list, not sure about WPI… Case Western - I have to check out…</p>
<p>This kid will be keeping me busy for the next year!</p>
<p>LINY - a mom called “arisamp” on the College '15 thread has a D doing engineering at Case Western. I’m sure she could answer lots of questions. If your S likes CMU, I would think Case could be a nice match for him.</p>
<p>Well our visit to CU went very well. D loved it and felt like she was at home. She had hoped to not like it so she could cross one off and make the decision easier. The tour was good with the tour guide providing a lot of insight into the campus. One of our biggest concerns was whether or not the campus cleared on on the weekends during ski season. Numerous people told us that while a lot of people do go skiing, there is still a lot to do on the weekends. The town is very folksy with the hill still being a typical college street. Lots of little shops and places to eat. The dorms seemed a bit on the small side, but each student has their own closet. A big perk to my daughter. Now we just wait to hear from them and continue the visits. Decisions, decisions, decisions…</p>
<p>itlliz - Do you mean Colorado State University? CSU? My youngest son and I visited here. We also liked it and he was all set to apply until we found out that his major was one in name only. We were very glad that we took the time to talk to the head of his intended department who made it clear that IST didn’t really exist there.</p>
<p>LINY - I have a good friend who had sons that did engineering at Case Western and RPI. Both graduated in the Spring. The Case Western son got a much more liberal arts education, while the one at RPI got lots of research without any humanities classes. The one at Case Western is now employed while the one that went to RPI is in a masters program and enjoying some humanities programs that his brother had enjoyed.</p>
<p>Kathiep, no, we were at University of Colorado-Boulder. CSU has her major as well, (Speech and Language Sciences), but she wants a larger school, college town, and “rah rah.”</p>
<p>Itilz - Have you visited CSU? Not to take anything away from CU and Boulder, but CSU has 30,000 students (just 2,000 less then CU) and is in the city of Ft. Collins. We did a drive thru of CU and thought both campuses were both nice.</p>
<p>my s is at Purdue. There are Jewish kids there, not a huge number and it is a big campus. It does have an active Hillel and there is a Jewish frat. My son never was a joiner and can’t say he is now but he does go to high holiday services and seders there. Not sure he would have been more active even if he was at a larger Jewish campus. He does love the school and the engineering program though</p>
<p>Linymom:</p>
<p>Hard to pinpoint different than we we’ve already covered! If your S would not mind the cold winters, there’s obviously more choices, like URochester, great campus, lots of jewish kids, etc.</p>
<p>Sounds like it’ll be between UMiami and Tulane for engineering and weather.</p>
<p>Another option with good engineering and somewhat mild weather is Vanderbilt if Linyson has strong SAT scores. Vanderbilt is 10% Jewish and has a strong Hillel. D1 has 2 friends in the engineering program who have been very happy.</p>
<p>,</p>
<p>Momjr-can you quantify “strong SAT scores?”</p>
<p>Vanderbilt - Common Data Set - 2010-2011:</p>
<p>SAT Critical Reading 670-760<br>
SAT Math 690-770<br>
SAT Writing 660-750<br>
ACT Composite 30-34 </p>
<p>The DS of a friend of mine is a soph there. Positive feedback.</p>
<p>Really tough admit. If DS does get scores that high, I think we will take the merit money and run to Miami!</p>
<p>Still looking for safeties… I don’t think I can get DS to look at Rochester or CW (Cleveland), although he is excited about Lehigh in PA.</p>
<p>** Apologize as this is off-topic. Vandy definitely not a “B” student school. As I said earlier today, I definitely am still on the hunt for school for “B/B+” students that offers biomedical engineering/bioengineering… in case SAT scores are more in the 1200 range rather than 1300 (or higher!). Seems that even a high GPA doesn’t make up for the scores (from what I read here on CC).</p>
<p>Linymom:</p>
<p>I got one! 
Have you looked at Trinity College in Hartford, CT yet?
Location is not ideal…
Small, LAC w/engineering, @2500 kids or so, B+/A- range?
Strong merit aid…
winter, snow, yes. Probably only 2 1/2-3 hours from your home on LI…
They do have a small Hillel, but get this: they do have a separate Hillel bldg/house on campus! Maybe poised for growth…
Pretty serious in their athletic program if that matters…
Preppy, but very collaborative student body</p>
<p>Be careful again with Lehigh, not good aid it seems…but you never know until you apply.</p>
<p>Did you consider Northeastern? Too big? Tufts? @5000 kids, winter, yes.
What about VA Tech? Does that have Bio eng?</p>
<p>Right now, one applies to Tufts’ bioengineering program at the end of freshman year. They don’t take many kids into it right now, as it’s a fairly new program and they want to keep the student/faculty ratios good and have the equipment students will need. Tufts Engineering is about 750 students total out of ~5200 in the entire university. Not too small, not too large.</p>
<p>chocchip Just looked up Trinity… that may be worth a visit!! we can do it in one day. Tufts is a really tough admit, Northeastern is in the city, VA Tech is way too big (and really hard to get to - my friend’s DS goes there so I hear about it all the time).</p>
<p>You are all so much better than our guidance counselor!!!</p>
<p>LINYMOM - While you are in Hartford, visit the University of Hartford School of Engineering which has biomed engineering and decent engineering overall - many connections with local industry for projects. There used to be merit money for ACTs in the high 20’s - don’t know about now. If you have interest in music, theater or dance - the Hartt School is there or art - the Hartford Art school is also there. </p>
<p>It is a good safety with potential merit $.</p>
<p>Thanks, chemusic. I looked at UHartford with DD (she ended up not applying). I didn’t realize they had engineering there.</p>
<p>Miami of Ohio was also suggested to me. That looks like a good safety. Good ratings in engineering too. </p>
<p>If DS doesn’t get the SAT scores that get him into his top choice schools (hopefully with some merit $$ at UM), then he will definitely have to make some trade-offs.</p>
<p>Linymom: I don’t recall if this one has been mentioned yet, and I don’t know much about it except that it has a good engineering program and that it is not a huge school. It has been suggested to my S but he wants to stay in state. Colorado School of Mines, they do have biomed program. A little far to travel though.</p>
<p>Again no surprise here but S2 has his official acceptance to UT Austin, it could however take until mid Feb to know if he got into his major. Socaldad I’m talking to you :).</p>